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Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova

The great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova was born Anna Andreyevna Gorenko in the town of Bolshoy Fontan, near Odessa, on June 23, 1889 (June 11 Old Style, Julian calendar of her day). Her father was a

Smell of Blue Grapes is Sweet, The

by Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova (1889–1966)

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16

The smell of blue grapes is sweet

The intoxicating view tantalizes.

Your voice is hollow and cheerless,

But I'm not feeling sorry for anyone, not anyone.

There are spiderwebs among the berries,

The stems of the supple vines are still thin,

Like little ice floes, little ice floes,

In the gleaming water of the sky-blue river, clouds swim.

The sun is in the sky. The sun brightly shines.

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